The Buffalo Sabres pulled off two trades before the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft. First they sent Bowen Byram to Chicago for the No. 4 pick. Then they needed a defenseman to plug into the lineup right now. So they called the Anaheim Ducks and worked out a deal for Olen Zellweger.
Buffalo gave up center Anton Wahlberg and the 45th overall pick to get Zellweger. Wahlberg was a second-round pick in 2023 and hasn’t played an NHL game yet. The 45th pick originally came from Chicago in the Byram trade. The Ducks used it on University of Wisconsin commit Jayden Kurtz.
So who won the trade? It depends on what you think each team is actually trying to do.
Anaheim won a playoff round and then started selling off pieces
The Ducks ended a seven-year playoff drought this season. They even beat the Edmonton Oilers in the first round. But since then the roster has gotten thinner. John Carlson left. Mason McTavish is gone. Troy Terry is hurt and could miss months. Now Zellweger is out the door too.
Zellweger played 76 regular-season games for Anaheim last year but only three in the playoffs. That drop in usage points to Joel Quenneville having a say in personnel decisions. The veteran coach got the Ducks to the postseason in his first year behind the bench and he’s clearly shaping the roster in his image now.
Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba are both scheduled to hit free agency. So the Ducks NHL defense depth chart right now is basically a blank page with a few pencil marks on it. Anaheim got a B+ for value in this trade — Wahlberg is a decent prospect and Kurtz has real upside — but they’ve created a hole they absolutely have to fill this summer. If this isn’t the first of multiple moves on the blue line, it’s a problem.
Zellweger fills a spot for Buffalo. But does he fit the identity?
The Sabres won the Atlantic Division last season and snapped a 15-year playoff drought. They lost to Montreal in the second round. The front office believes the window is opening. They got an offer for Byram they couldn’t turn down and grabbed Daxon Rudolph at No. 4 as a long-term project. This trade is about replacing Byram right now.
But here’s the thing. Buffalo already has Rasmus Dahlin, who was a Norris Trophy finalist last year. They have Owen Power running the second power play. The Sabres have the market cornered on offensive defensemen with finesse. So what is Zellweger if he’s not playing on either power play unit?
A guy like Adam Pelech from the Islanders would have been a better fit — a shutdown defenseman who plays heavy minutes in his own zone. But maybe the Islanders weren’t selling. That doesn’t mean Zellweger is the wrong player. It just means he’s not the obvious one.
Zellweger is a restricted free agent on July 1. If Buffalo can sign him cheap, this could work fine. He’s a skilled puck-mover who might surprise people in a new system. The Sabres get a B here. This trade doesn’t clearly improve the team on paper, but if Zellweger puts up points and plays decent defense, nobody will care what the grade was on draft day.
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